West Seattle Weather Watch: The snow gets more serious

(scroll/refresh for the latest updates at the bottom of this report)

At least here in Upper Fauntleroy, it’s just become more intense. How about where you are? 1:09 PM: Starting to stick here, though not on the road, yet. 1:23 PM UPDATE: And now – the road too. We’re now at the phase where we invite you to send photos of what’s happening where you are. Off now to research the consensus on how long this is expected to last – update, winter weather advisory is in effect till 6 pm. Photo of SW Sullivan, near WSB HQ:

1:47 PM: Down by Fauntleroy Schoolhouse now for another story; roads are wet, not snowy, though big wet flakes are falling down here too.

2:36 PM UPDATE: Back from our Fauntleroy shoot – hiking around the back trails of Fauntleroy Park with kids collecting water samples – More on that shortly. First: The roads remain wet and drivable. Second, here’s an update from SDOT:

The weather forecast for Seattle calls for one to two inches of wet snow today. At this time, wet snow is falling but is not sticking to the pavement, due to relatively warm temperatures. Five SDOT trucks are patrolling Seattle streets, on the outlook for weather-related pavement concerns.

SDOT’s full fleet of trucks with snow plows and sanders are ready for snow and ice response if needed. Crews with several trucks will remain on duty this evening after the end of the day shift to patrol streets. Additional crews will be available on standby, to supplement regular night shift crews, if needed.

2:57 PM UPDATE: Photo from our hike with “Team EarthPeeps” from Gatewood Elementary – Fauntleroy Park is a beautiful place to be on a mildly snowy afternoon:

Full story tonight on what they’re up to, along with an update on another Gatewood group that invited us along on a different adventure last week). As for the weather, the new forecasts should be out shortly; remember that if you need to check the traffic cameras, West Seattle-related ones are all on our Traffic page.

3:58 PM UPDATE: The snow seems to be turning to rain now, as promised. So all may be closer to well as you head home.

4:29 PM UPDATE: And that rain is getting ever lighter. But the winter weather advisory is still in place till 10 pm, just in case. We’ll be adding some non-snow stories to the top of the page now, but will continue to update this with any new information – and we’ll watch commute conditions, too.

snowinFeb February 10, 2009 (12:49 pm)

on top of Thistle we have lots of flurries – nothing sticking yet. The primroses I just bought are inside needless to say!

Orin February 10, 2009 (12:54 pm)

At Freshy’s on California, it’s coming down but not sticking.

D.C. February 10, 2009 (12:54 pm)

Just a few flakes falling at Delridge & Alaska.

Seadanes February 10, 2009 (12:56 pm)

Lots of big, fluffy flakes coming down fast here in N. Admiral area. Nothing sticking so far.

rlv February 10, 2009 (12:56 pm)

Snowing like mad on Beacon Hill — can’t even see West Seattle from here right now!

marianne February 10, 2009 (12:57 pm)

Fast and furiouw big flakes at California and Andover but not sticking (at the moment!)

marianne February 10, 2009 (12:57 pm)

Oops! meant to type furious.

d February 10, 2009 (12:58 pm)

Not sticking in Highland Park.

Paul Carr February 10, 2009 (12:59 pm)

Big flakes coming down at Alki now. If it hits here, it’s everywhere.

Melissa February 10, 2009 (1:00 pm)

It’s coming down pretty hard here at the Morgan Junction, but it’s still not sticking.

jeannie February 10, 2009 (1:02 pm)

Flaky and sticking here on Gatewood Hill!

Rhonda February 10, 2009 (1:02 pm)

Lots of flakes over on Beach but not sticking.

Cait February 10, 2009 (1:03 pm)

LOTS on Holden and Delridge, but no sticking yet.

d February 10, 2009 (1:10 pm)

Uh oh.

Now, it is sticking in Highland Park.

d February 10, 2009 (1:11 pm)

Clarification: Sticking to everything BUT the road right now.

Lindsey February 10, 2009 (1:13 pm)

Can you define “Upper Fauntleroy” for me? I’m relatively new to Seattle. I’m just finding the different neighborhood of Seattle, then I find all these tiny West Seattle sub-divisions. Can a newbie get some help here? I’m starting to feel like I don’t even know what mini-neighborhood I live in… :)

WSB February 10, 2009 (1:14 pm)

Thistle is the dividing line between Gatewood and Fauntleroy, from Northrop (just west of California) eastward to 35th. East of 35th from there, it’s Westwood. I’ll go find the neighborhood map …

(added)
west West Seattle neighborhood delineations, at least per the city (and there are others not listed here, but I don’t have maps for them)
http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/public/nmaps/html/NN-1500S.htm

east West Seattle per the city
http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/public/nmaps/html/NN-1550S.htm

Kevin February 10, 2009 (1:18 pm)

Sticking to everything except the street in Arbor Heights at the moment.

I just talked to someone in Ballard who said it was “dumping” there.

Morganlf February 10, 2009 (1:19 pm)

It’s sticking and snowing quite hard in Westwood.

Sandra February 10, 2009 (1:21 pm)

Snow’s beginning to accumulate on cars here at the SW Seattle Library (at 35th Ave SW + Henderson).

Lindsey, welcome to Seattle! If you live in West Seattle, you might want to attend one of the neighborhood meetings. Just look in the right column of this blog until you see web links to websites for various neighborhood groups here in the area. By the way, this blog is awesome!!!! I check on the events information (see top bar of blog and click on ‘events’) frequently.

Lindsey February 10, 2009 (1:22 pm)

Helpful as always, WSB. I’m a Fairmount Park resident. Thanks so much!

iggy February 10, 2009 (1:23 pm)

Gigantic, wet flakes. It’s sticking and coming down very hard near Cafe Ladro on California.

Aim February 10, 2009 (1:25 pm)

Dumping hard in SODO. It nearly never actually comes down in this part of SODO.

Audrey February 10, 2009 (1:26 pm)

I live at Highpoint, it is starting to stick to the street a bit and most definitely to my driveway.

Pam February 10, 2009 (1:27 pm)

Dumping in Downtown, but not sticking. I could see the snow storm from my building creeping in over West Seattle – now it is gone. Debating on when I should head home…

d February 10, 2009 (1:28 pm)

The city had the sweeper truck out again, twice, on the main arterial here in HP this morning. They finally swept up the last of the sand they put down for the last storm, I thought.

Now, I’m wondering if they sent out deicer trucks this AM too? Did anyone else see them?

Audrey February 10, 2009 (1:28 pm)

Pam – NOAA is predicting 1-2″ in WS.

Anne February 10, 2009 (1:35 pm)

Here on 39th & Morgan St-we have close to 1-1/2 ” with BIG FLUFFY flakes that have been coming down non-stop for the last hour.It’s sticking everywhere but on the streets…so far!

d. February 10, 2009 (1:37 pm)

snowing hard in the Junction…

MJ February 10, 2009 (1:40 pm)

Any update on whether it is sticking on the roads in Highland Park?

Sue February 10, 2009 (1:40 pm)

d, someone posted in a different thread earlier today that they saw what looked like deicer on the WS bridge very early this morning.

Esther Maria Swaty February 10, 2009 (1:42 pm)

ohh wow! I do believe I have had about enough snow..

Pam February 10, 2009 (1:43 pm)

Good to know! I’ll wait and see how it goes. My house is at 500′ in West Seattle, so I might have a challenge getting to my house.

Fuji February 10, 2009 (1:46 pm)

Trying to snow in Tukwila – nothing sticking so far.

Audrey February 10, 2009 (1:52 pm)

Pam – as is mine, which is why I am watching it and can empathize. I think the flakes are getting smaller and the pace is slowing, so you should be okay staying at work.

bhuston February 10, 2009 (1:56 pm)

What an unexpected, yet beautiful surprise today. I hope it lasts longer than predicted.

Michelle February 10, 2009 (2:08 pm)

I’m in Highland Park and nothing’s sticking on the roads yet – I’ll update if/when it does.

MJ February 10, 2009 (2:09 pm)

Thanks Michelle!

Pam February 10, 2009 (2:16 pm)

Yes, I will continue to wait. It is nice that I have a good view of Alki Point. It is peaking out of the snow cloud, but I can see more coming in. Snow still coming down lightly, but none sticking downtown (4th & Lenora).

p February 10, 2009 (2:27 pm)

I can just hear it now, Spring 2009 storm headed up by Jim Forman at KING 5…

jno February 10, 2009 (2:30 pm)

p – he led their newscast last night. Seriously, what does he do between weather events??

Audrey February 10, 2009 (2:30 pm)

As long as King 5 doesn’t try an annoying soundtrack, I’m fine with it. And p, thanks for being so optimistic — “spring storm” :)

herongrrrl February 10, 2009 (2:30 pm)

Raining now here on Beach Drive.

WSB February 10, 2009 (2:40 pm)

By the way, p and anybody else interested – A passel of KING5 people have just gotten onto Twitter (several are “following,” which means “monitoring,” us among many other local/national news sources, so we saw the accounts pop up). And one of those K5 Twitter-ers is none other than Jim Forman himself. If you are on Twitter, follow @jimforman – if not, you can see his Twitter updates at
http://twitter.com/jimforman

Audrey February 10, 2009 (2:51 pm)

They should do a feature on WSB, it’s only the coolest thing!

WSB February 10, 2009 (2:55 pm)

We’ve had our 15 minutes of fame :) … we keep the links on the About page (click WSB at the bottom of this comment) … anyway, it’s about you, not us. Would love to find a way to fit all 17,000 weekly households/businesses into one huge photo for a WSB group shot!!!! Might have to be an aerial …

Gina February 10, 2009 (3:04 pm)

snowing, but still not sticking in the area of the downtown library.

PDieter February 10, 2009 (3:14 pm)

It’s hard to ridicule Jim Forman within a post referring to “serious snow”.

Large, wet, fluffy, serious snow.

just say’n

;)

miws February 10, 2009 (3:15 pm)

“…he [Jim Foreman] led their newscast last night. Seriously, what does he do between weather events??”

jno, I’m sure that Parka Boy gets paid quite handsomely for doing the stories that put him in such peril, so, during the “down time” he’s probably relaxing in Hawaii, or the Carribean! ;)

Mike

rbj February 10, 2009 (3:21 pm)

Snowing here by West Seattle high.

Just witnessed a very pale horse being ridden by a very thin and bony gentleman wearing an overcoat and holding a scythe.

Bad sign.

Highland Park February 10, 2009 (3:30 pm)

The comment left by rbj just made me laugh, really hard. Over here, there are some large flakes falling. All the cars are covered, but the ground still remains wet and non-snow covered.

-A.D.M.

Matt Brubeck February 10, 2009 (3:50 pm)

I just took the #21 from downtown to Arbor Heights. The roads are still clear (including the side streets) and traffic was fine. It’s coming down pretty hard in West Seattle still, and the sidewalks are getting slushy.

flowerpetal February 10, 2009 (3:52 pm)

Those parkaboys get paid shockingly poor wages. Many would wonder why it is that they do what they do for so little.
Is it the dream of being an anchor one day?

bonnie February 10, 2009 (3:53 pm)

Oh, Mike I like the way you think! Parka Boy is always in the thick of it. I think you and use to work in the same place. Not too many people use that term when speaking of Foreman!!!

cruiser February 10, 2009 (4:24 pm)

Thriftway outta milk,eggs and bacon

jsv888 February 10, 2009 (4:24 pm)

Guys, you have no idea how valuable this thread is when you are downtown and wondering if you will make it home. Thanks WSB!!

RS February 10, 2009 (4:47 pm)

Is it really still snowing in WS? It’s been solid rain here in SLU for the past hour or so. Hard to believe there’s still any snow left!

WSB February 10, 2009 (4:55 pm)

Not up here, it’s not. Just rain. Light rain, at that. But still some snow on the ground. Not the roads, though. Should be smooth sailing for everyone heading home, at least through the city – don’t know about the burbs (about to check the 5 pm news because I know they will have found THE SNOWIEST SPOT IN PUGET SOUND, wherever it is) … TR

rw February 10, 2009 (5:05 pm)

Jeez. The snow is barely sticking, traffic is moving without a hint of delay (I just got home from the east side) and already there are 58 posts on this thread!!!

I love WSB and the sharing of information as much as the next guy, but aren’t we going a bit overboard on the snowflake watch? I know, I was glued to WSB through the December storm just like everyone else. But this snowfall will likely be a non-event…. at least until morning (if the precip freezes). The break-in/theft report is much more compelling.